Directions

Beat the butter and sugar completely, until smooth. Add in the eggs, and beat again. Then add the vanilla. You can just mix that. Or beat it in, whatever – get out some aggression.

In a second bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. I’ve tried both sweetened and unsweetened and I think the unsweetened is better, but what do I know. I can tell you it is less sweet, but you probably figured that out yourself.

Stir the dry mix into the butter/sugar/egg/vanilla bowl. You can use a hand mixer at first, but as you get near the end you’ll want to put that away and just use your elbow grease. The mixture gets pretty dense, and you’ll burn out the motor of your hand mixer. I mean, not that I’ve done that or anything. Not more than twice, anyway. And then you have to make another trip to the hardware store….it’s annoying. Just use a wooden spoon.

Next mix in the chocolate chips. If you want you can put nuts in too, but that’s not my thing.

Split the dough into two even parts, and shape them into loaf-like forms. Shoot for around 9”x2”x1” -ish, but don’t get too hung up about the exact size. Put them on a baking sheet a few inches apart because they do spread a bit when they cook.

In a small bowl whisk the egg yolk and water, and brush that mixture over the two loaves (loafs?).

Heat oven to 375° and bake for 20 minutes or until the loaves (probably not loafs) are firm. Cool them on the baking sheet for about 45 minutes – go watch a procedural on TV or something.

Using a serrated bread knife, slice the loaves (definitely not loafs) into pieces about 1 inch wide. Put the pieces back onto the baking sheet, this time flat on their side and bake for 15 minutes on each side again at 375° (watch that they don’t burn).

You can cool them on right the baking sheet, and then eat the heck out of them.

Post navigation

Ugly Advice

Watch your oven! The cook times here are “ish” as in “cook for 8 minutes-ish”. I say this because not all ovens are the same. Your oven at 350° may actually run at 340°, while someone else’s may run at 365°. That’s fine – just watch the desserts on the first baking sheet or so to make sure they don’t burn. Then adjust the times so they make sense for you.